​ Ibiza, SPAIN

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Ibizza, Spain.













Ibiza
, often called the White Island - la Isla Blanca, is the most beautiful of 4 Balearic islands. Amazing cove beaches, high towering cliffs, densely covered with pine trees, offer the perfect place to spend your holidays.
The islands capital Ibiza-Town - Eivissa Vila in Catalan, one of Europe’s oldest towns, was founded by the Carthaginians and grew into an important fortress until it many hundreds years later became the capital of the Pituses - Pine-islands - formed by Ibiza and Formentera.
Ibiza is mainly known for its annual beach parties and hot weather. Ibiza has a remarkably mild climate - even in winter the temperature rarely drops under 0º Celsius. From November to April the average daytime temperature is about 15º Celsius - however when the sun comes out this can rapidly climb to 25º C.




In 654 BC Phoenician settlers founded a port in the Balearic Islands, as Ibossim (from the Phoenician iboshim dedicated to the god of the music and dance Bes).[8] It was later known to Romans as "Ebusus". The Greeks, who came to Ibiza during the time of the Phoenicians, were the first to call the two islands of Ibiza and Formentera the Pityûssai (Πιτυοῦσσαι, "pine-covered islands"; a translation of the Phoenician name).[9] With the decline of Phoenicia after the Assyrian invasions, Ibiza came under the control of Carthage, also a former Phoenician colony. The island produced dye, salt, fish sauce (garum), and wool.

A shrine with offerings to the goddess Tanit was established in the cave at Es Culleram, and the rest of the Balearic Islands entered Eivissa's commercial orbit after 400 BC. Ibiza was a major trading post along the Mediterranean routes. Ibiza began establishing its own trading stations along the nearby Balearic island of Majorca such as Na Guardis, from which large quantities of renowned Balearic slingers were hired as mercenaries who fought for Carthage. During the Second Punic War, the island was assaulted by the two Scipio brothers in 209 BC but remained loyal to Carthage. With Carthaginian military luck running out on the Iberian mainland, Ibiza was last used by the fleeing Carthaginian General Mago to gather supplies and men before sailing to Minorca and then to Liguria. Ibiza negotiated a favorable treaty with the Romans, which spared Ibiza from further destruction and allowed it to continue its Carthaginian-Punic institutions well into the Empire days, when it became an official Roman municipality. For this reason, Ibiza today offers excellent examples of late Carthaginian-Punic civilization. During the Roman Empire, the island became a quiet imperial outpost, removed from the important trading routes of the time. After the fall of the Roman empire and a brief period of first Vandal and then Byzantine rule, the island was conquered by the Moors, as well as much of the Iberian peninsula. Under Islamic rule, Ibiza came in close contact with the city of Dénia (the closest port in the nearby Iberian peninsula, located in the Valencian Community) as the two areas were administered jointly by the same taifa. Moreover, the tribes who lived in Ibiza and Denia during the period 1060–1085 were Moorish tribes named Bno-Alaglab & Bano-Mujahed. The island was reclaimed for Christendom by Aragonese King James I of Aragon in 1235. Since then, the island has had its own self-government in several forms but in 1715 King Philip V of Spain abolished the local government's autonomy. The arrival of democracy in the late 1970s led to the Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands. Today the island is part of the Balearic Autonomous Community, along with Majorca, Minorca and Formentera.

[edit] Geography

See also: Pine Islands
Ibiza is a part of a group of the western Balearic archipelago called the Pitiusas or "Pine Islands" composed of itself and Formentera. The Balearic island chain includes over fifty islands, many of them uninhabited.

[edit] Climate

The climate of Ibiza is Mediterranean and has milder winters but slightly cooler summers than Majorca. The winters are generally mild with temperatures around 15 °C (60 °F) during the day and 8 °C (46 °F) at night. The hottest time of the year is July and August with temperatures reaching 30 °C (90 °F) most afternoons. The lowest recorded temperature in Ibiza is −5 °C (20 °F), the highest is 37 °C (100 °F).[10]


[hide]Weather data for Ibiza
Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year
Average high °C (°F)
15
(59)
15
(59)
16
(61)
18
(64)
21
(70)
25
(77)
28
(82)
29
(84)
27
(81)
23
(73)
18
(64)
16
(61)
21
(70)
Daily mean °C (°F)
11
(52)
12
(54)
13
(55)
14
(57)
17
(63)
21
(70)
25
(77)
25
(77)
23
(73)
19
(66)
15
(59)
13
(55)
17
(63)
Average low °C (°F)
8
(46)
8
(46)
9
(48)
11
(52)
13
(55)
17
(63)
21
(70)
21
(70)
20
(68)
16
(61)
12
(54)
10
(50)
14
(57)
Avg. precipitation days
9
9
8
9
7
4
2
4
6
9
9
9
85
Source: Weatherbase[11]

external image 660px-Es_vedra.jpgexternal image magnify-clip.pngPanoramic view of Cala d’Hort